However, the two days have merged in recent years and analysts say the sales have evolved into a more extended period where some shops were even offering up to two weeks of heavy discounts. Nationwide said only a third of sales were completed online yesterday.

The payment processing firm World­pay added that online sales on Black Friday were also strong. The company said it processed nearly 20 per cent more online transactions than on Black Friday 2015.

Online sales peaked at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, at a rate of 181 transactions per second.

Britons are estimated to have spent a total of £5.8bn over the four days between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Spending spree

This was a 15 per cent increase on last year, according to VoucherCodes.co.uk and the Centre for Retail Research.

Around 14 million shoppers were predicted to go on a £1.97bn spending spree on Black Friday – setting a new record – with more than half of that amount spent with companies trading on the internet.

The retail software firm Vend, which tracked 1,500 independent shops across Britain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, said that sales were up by 22 per cent on the same weekend last year.